Gladys Kalibbala
28 November 2008
Kampala — MANY people have been made to think that it is only construction that is threatening wetland depletion. To the contrary even agriculture is reclaiming many wetlands and it is increasingly becoming a threat.
An example of a wetland under the agricultural threat is found behind the Entebbe International Airport (Kigungu), stretching up to Lake Victoria.
Prisoners sometime back planted the wetland with yam and sugarcane. Ongoing agricultural work is confirmed by burnt grass next to the reclaimed land.
"This is very unfortunate and nobody is coming up to stop it," commented a concerned resident. Just next to this piece of land is another stretch that was reclaimed by Entebbe Women's Association (EWA) and planted with trees.
However, when contacted Samson Semakula, the Entebbe Municipal Environment Officer, said he was ignorant of the matter, but promised to take it up immediately.
"It is unfortunate that nobody came out to report the matter to this office in time, but the municipal's stand is clear that people must keep away from wetlands," he lamented.
George Wasonga, the Lake Victoria Region Local Authorities Co-operation (LVRLAC) project coordinator, said wetlands are among the most productive life-supporting systems on earth and their conservation is important for biological, economic and aesthetic reasons.
Depending on the type, wetlands perform many functions, which contribute to the safety of the people and their environment.
Like construction, cultivation in a wetland can only be done after clearance from the National Environment Managemnet Authority.
Dr. Julius Ayo-Odongo, the LVRLAC secretary general, explained that the destruction of wetlands has adverse effects on the ecobalance, which affects the filtering processes, the wetlands are meant for.
He further explains that tampering with wetlands has led to the abundant pollution in the lakes.
It is for this reason that LVRLAC under its project funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), has continued to restore the degraded environment.
This year, SIDA released $52,000 (sh1b) and $13,000 (sh25m) for Masaka Municipality and Katabi sub-county, respectively for environmental activities. Namajjuzi wetland in Masaka is one of those areas for conservation with the funds.
Aida Nshemereirwe of Nature Uganda, lamented that although they do their best to guard wetland against being detroyed, they lack authority to arrest people who reclaim them.
Jude Golooba, the environment officer for Masaka, looks at Namajjuzi, as a wetland which can benefit the community economically if they plant more papyrus.
"The people around can make attractive crafts which can be bought by tourists." Golooba said the municipality has worked hard to re-introduce papyrus at Nakayiba wetland, which had been destroyed by the community with the plantation of sugarcane.
He said both Namajjuzi and Nakayiba wetlands serve as filtering centres for the municipality on top of being habitats for endangered animal species like the shoe bill stork and the sitatunga antelope.
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